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1. Tell Everyone
Now, today, I shall
sing beautifully for
my friends’ pleasure
2. Without Warning
As a whirlwind,
swoops an oak
Love shakes my heart
3. It’s No Use
Mother dear,
I can’t finish my weaving
You may blame Aphrodite
soft as she is
she has almost killed with love
for that boy
4. The Evening Star
Is the most
beautiful
of all stars
| 5. Wedding
Raise up the rafters high,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Carpenters: higher and higher,
Hurrah for the wedding!
The bridegroom is equal to Ares,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Much taller than any tall man is,
Hurrah for the wedding!
As tall as the singer of Lesbos,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Towers over all singers of elsewhere,
Hurrah for the wedding!
I think I shall be a maiden forever
Listen my dear,
By the Goddess herself I swear
That I (like you)
Had only one
Virginity to spare
Yet did not fear
To go over the bridal line
When Hera bade me
And cast it from me;
So I cheer you on
and loudly declare:
“My own night was none
Too bad
And you my girl
Have nothing to fear
Nothing at all.”
Raise up the rafters high,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Carpenters: higher and higher,
Hurrah for the wedding!
The bridegroom is equal to Ares,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Much taller than any tall man is,
Hurrah for the wedding!
As tall as the singer of Lesbos,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Towers over all singers of elsewhere,
Hurrah for the wedding!
[Bridesmaid’s carol I]
Come, bride
Brimming with roses
Of love, bride,
Gem of the lovely Goddess of Paphos:
Go, bride,
Go to the bed where
sweetly and gently
You’ll play with your bridegroom:
So, bride,
Hesperus lead you
Star of the evening
Happily onwards
Where you shall wonder
Where Hera on silver
Sits Lady of Marriage.
Raise up the rafters high,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Carpenters: higher and higher,
Hurrah for the wedding!
The bridegroom is equal to Ares,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Much taller than any tall man is,
Hurrah for the wedding!
As tall as the singer of Lesbos,
Hurrah for the wedding!
Towers over all singers of elsewhere,
Hurrah for the wedding!
They were exhausted and
The black trance of night
flooded into their eyes.
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Texts for songs 1-4 from Sappho – A translation by Mary Barnard (Univ. of California Press, 1958) Copyright © 1958 by the Regenta of University of California, Copyright renewed by Mary Barnard. Used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc. as agent for Chester Music Ltd.
Texts for song 5 from The Love Songs of Sappho. Essay copyright © 1998 by Paul Roche. Introduction copyright © 1998 by Page duBois. Published 2001 by special arrangement with Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, USA. Used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc. as agent for Chester Music Ltd.
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